A family of repeating low‐frequency earthquakes at the downdip edge of tremor and slip. (29th September 2014) - Sweet, Justin R.
Abstract We analyze an isolated low‐frequency earthquake (LFE) family located at the downdip edge of the main episodic tremor and slip (ETS) zone beneath western Washington State. The 9000 individual LFEs from this repeating family cluster into 198 swarms that recur roughly every week. Cumulative LFE seismic moment for each swarm correlates strongly with the time until the next swarm, suggesting that these LFE swarms are time predictable. Precise double‐difference relative locations for 700 individual LFEs within this family show a distribution that is approximately 2 km long and 500 m wide, elongated parallel to the relative plate convergence direction. The distribution of locations (<300 m vertical spread) lies within a few hundred meters of two different plate interface models and has a similar dip. Peak‐to‐peak LFE S wave amplitudes range from 0.2 to 18 nm. Individual LFEs exhibit a trend of increasing magnitude during swarms, with smaller events at the beginning and the largest events toward the end. The largest LFEs cluster in a small area (300 m radius) coincident with maximum LFE density. We propose that the less‐concentrated smaller LFEs act to unlock this patch core, allowing it to fully rupture in the largest LFEs, usually toward the end of a swarm. We interpret the patch responsible for producing these LFEs as a subducted seamount on the downgoing Juan de Fuca (JdF) plate. LFE locking efficiency (slip estimated during 5 years from summing LFE seismic moment divided by plate‐rate‐determined slip) is at most 20% and is highly concentrated in two ∼50 m radius locations in the larger patch core. Estimated individual LFE stress drops range from 1 to 20 kPa, but could also be significantly larger.